Page 82 of Queen of Ruin

Until it is.

The chair tips forward, my head is released and flops between my shoulders, and I curl my throbbing fingers against my palms while reflexively testing the bindings around my wrists.

Nothing budges.

Heavy footsteps slosh through the water on the floor, sending bites of cold splashing up my ankles and calves. Then a door opens and closes.

I'm alone.

Alone with my pain. My knees throb from being sat for so long, my fingers throb from being ripped apart, my thigh continues to be on fire, and every breath is like scraping my lungs over hot coals.

They won't kill me.

Why?

"Diego," comes a thick, accented voice that I can't quite place, and I flinch.

I had no idea someone was still in here.

"That is your name, correct?"

What accent is that? It almost sounds Russian, but I can't quite tell. I'm hardly a well-traveled man. Lifting my head, I squint through old blood sticky on my brow from the water and glimpse a bald, burly man walking toward me from a dark corner of the room.

"Sure," I croak painfully. "That's my name." Silence doesn't buy me any favors. Maybe talking can give me a glimmer of respite?

"Tell me," he demands. "Where is Valentina?"

Ah.

The billion-dollar question.

"No idea," I reply weakly. The truth, technically. I have no idea where she is right this second or if she even noticed I was gone. Everything going on with her is so intense, and I hope her memories are her priority. She deserves her life back.

The man's fist slamming into my face is like being struck by solid brick, and my brain bounces around in my skull for a moment. Pain blinds me, and I let my head hang as I feel pain and blood drips out of my mouth. It splatters onto my thighs, a hot touch after so much cold.

"Tell us where the nosy redhead is. You two were together. We know this. Always together. Now you are alone. Tell us where you left her?"

"Wait a second," I wheeze, lifting my head and raising my hands the best I can. "Why do you even care? Isn't the bounty for me? Am I really not enough for you guys?"

Two punches this time. One from the left, another from the right. It's a wonder my face has any structure left to it given how pain spreads through my skull like a rampant fever.

"No jokes," the man snarls, and he grips the back of my head, then lifts me to face the light. "Where?!"

I grin weakly. "No clue."

This punch collides with my gut, causing bile and water to rise up like a burning wave and splutter past my bleeding lips.

"We care not for you. You are a dumb American. Easier to track. She is our target and she was with you. Now. Where?!"

I gaze up at his doughy features, struggling to commit any of it to memory. Of course they want her. God knows what she did to them, but I can't imagine it was pleasant. What they're putting me through would only be a fraction of what they would do to her, I'm certain of it.

She's home, though.

Home with her family.

Surrounded by people who love her and care for her, who can protect her much better than I can. She can get her life back and maybe, in time, come back to get revenge on these guys. But most importantly, right now, she's safe.

I have nothing at home. She was the only light in my life. I'm just a footnote on everyone else's page, living on borrowed time ever since I survived my OD. I used that time to try and save Mindy but in the end, I saved Valentina and got her back where she belongs.